N-M Chapter 282: Berries And Chillies
Chapter 282: Berries And Chillies
Victor had almost smiled. Almost. "Then do it right. No cornering. No pressure. She’s carrying, Dimitri. She’s tired and sore, and the last thing she needs is some wolf panting in her face."
"I’m not a wolf, I’m an albino leopard." Dimitri’s jaw worked around the correction like it physically cost him dignity to clarify this more than once.
Victor’s red gaze didn’t waver. Not a single feather shifted along those massive black-and-white wings folded at his back. The eagle beastman looked like he’d been carved from winter itself—silver hair, pale skin, that unsettling stillness of a predator who never needed to chase because everything came to him eventually.
"Leopard. Wolf. Doesn’t matter." Victor’s chin tipped down a fraction. "You crowd her, and I’ll pluck you like a chicken."
Now, on his fifth lap of the perimeter, Dimitri’s jaw ached from clenching. His boots crushed frost-brittle grass with each circuit, and the cold should have numbed everything. Should have scraped his thoughts clean.
It didn’t.
Her bloom reached him even here. Fifty meters out, pacing the treeline like a caged thing, and still that faint hum threaded beneath his skin, it was sweet and thick. Like biting into ripe fruit on an empty stomach, the taste flooded his mouth before he’d even swallowed. His pulse kicked harder. His claws pricked against his palms, half-shifted without his permission.
And the pull he felt toward her wasn’t one-sided. He’d caught her looking. The way her honey eyes lingered on his mouth when he talked. The way her tail twitched when he brushed past her in the hallway.
She wanted him. She just didn’t know she wanted him yet.
Dimitri rounded the corner of the east wall, his pace quickening. Tomorrow. He’d start tomorrow. Bring her something. Flowers, maybe, if he could find any that weren’t poisonous. Or that book she’d mentioned about the old world. Something that showed he’d been listening. That he cared about the things she cared about.
He’d make himself undeniable.
Inside, the bedroom was warm and dark, lit only by the single oil lamp Victor kept burning on the dresser. Felicity lay tangled in a nest of limbs and blankets, her small body tucked against Lucan’s massive chest. His arm was draped over her like a steel bar, heavy and possessive, one hand splayed across her rounded belly where the cubs shifted and kicked.
She’d been drifting in that pleasant haze between sleep and waking for the better part of an hour, floating on the warmth of her men surrounding her. Victor’s back pressed against hers, solid and steady. Somewhere near her feet, she could feel the weight of two more, Voss’s broad hand resting on her ankle, Dawn’s breath warm against her calf.
But the craving wouldn’t let her sleep.
It had started as a whisper around midnight, a vague, nagging itch at the back of her tongue. Now it was a demand, sharp and specific and utterly unreasonable. Berries. Sweet, bursting, sun-warmed berries, the kind that stained your fingers purple. And chilli peppers. The hot ones. The ones that made your eyes water and your lips burn and your whole body flush with heat.
Together at the same time. The cubs insisted.
Felicity whimpered softly, her tail flicking against Lucan’s thigh. She tried to sit up, pushing against his arm, but he only tightened his grip, pulling her closer. A low rumble vibrated through his chest; it was half a growl and half a purr, and his nose buried deeper into the crook of her neck, inhaling.
"Lucan," she mumbled, pushing weakly at his forearm. "I need to, mmph."
He nuzzled her and didn’t let go.
Felicity’s ears flattened. The craving pulsed harder, making her stomach clench. She craned her neck, searching the dim room, and found Voss sitting upright in the armchair by the window. He was reading—or pretending to read—one of the old paperbacks they’d salvaged, his grey eyes occasionally lifting to scan the room before dropping back to the page. Always watching. Always assessing.
"Voss."
His gaze snapped to her immediately. The book lowered.
Felicity’s lower lip jutted out. She made a sound, a small, pathetic whine that she would have been embarrassed about if the craving hadn’t been consuming her entire nervous system. "Vossss..."
"What is it, little fox?" His voice was calm, measured. The way it always was.
She squirmed against Lucan’s grip, managing to prop herself up on one elbow. Lucan growled a warning but loosened his hold just enough. Felicity’s honey eyes were wide, pleading, her ears drooping in the most pitiful way she could manage.
"I need... can you..." She swallowed, the words tangling with another whine. "Berries and chilli peppers please."
Voss blinked. The book closed entirely. "Berries and... chilli peppers?"
"Berries and chilli peppers," she repeated, as if the emphasis would make it make more sense. It didn’t. She knew it didn’t. "Together at the same time, please. I want to eat them at the same time, and I can’t stop thinking about it, and the cubs want them, Voss, they’re kicking about it, feel...."
She grabbed his hand, he’d crossed the room without her noticing, the man moved like a ghost, and pressed it flat against her belly. Sure enough, a hard kick thumped against his palm. Another. The cubs were restless, agitated, responding to whatever hormonal cocktail her body was brewing.
Voss’s expression didn’t change, but something shifted behind his grey eyes. Calculations. Logistics. He was already mapping the route to wherever berries and chilli peppers might coexist in this ruined world.
"Together," he said slowly. "In the same bite."
"Yes." Felicity nodded frantically, her blonde hair falling across her face. "Sweet and hot, I need both. I need it now, Voss, I’m going to die if I don’t get-"
"You’re not going to die." His thumb stroked a gentle circle on her belly, and despite herself, Felicity felt some of the frantic energy drain out of her. Voss had that effect. He was steady in a way that made the world feel less chaotic.